Air cup speed sensor



B. WALKER ETAL AIR our SPEED SENSOR Filed June 21. 1967 3,456,631 AIR CUP SPEED SENSOR Brooks Walker, 1280 Columbus Ave., San Francisco, Calif. 94133, and Frank W. Kertell, Santa Cruz,

Calif.; said Kel-tell assignor to said Walker Filed .lune 21, 1967, Ser. No. 647,798 Int. Cl. F0211 /06 U.S. Cl. 123-97 3 Claims ABSTRACT 0F THE DISCLOSURE An object of the invention in addition to those given in the abstract and before is the use of a reaction device or cup type pickup to react to some of the air following the rotating fan at the rear of said fan as this has been found to be more sensitive to engine speed changes than a vane back of a fan, depending on the rearward flow of air from the fan which rearward ow is greatly affected by whether there is a head or tail wind into which the car is driving, whereas a cup pivoted on a substantially parallel axis to the rotation of the fan is much less affected by a similar head or tail Wind.

Another feature is the formation of a speed sensor with power enough to operate a valve or switch to control an engine function Where such a device is readily attachable to a wide variety of motor vehicles for use in smog control of new or used vehicles.

Another feature is the construction of a valve suitable for operation by such a speed sensor that can control a vehicle suction operated spark advance or idle fuel shut olf or other engine function as desired.

Other features will be more particularly pointed out in the accompanying specification and claims.

We have illustrated our invention in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view, partly cut away, showing one form of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevation view from in front of the fan and partly cut away, showing the same invention as in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows an alternate valve construction, partly in section.

In FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, we have shown a fan which rotates clockwise, as viewed in FIG. 2 and is driven by engine 5 in the usual manner. A cup 12 is pivoted at 13 to a bracket Ztl which is suitably secured to the fan shield, or wheel guard 21 under the hood, not shown. A counter weight 14 is used to almost balance or balance the weight of cup 12. Fork arm 15 moves stem 16 by lugs 16A. Stern 16 moves valve 16B that connects port 17 and tube 17A 3,456,531 Patented July 22, 1969 Mice ( which may be connected to the intake manifold) to port 18 and tube 18A which may be connected to the suction operated spark advance common to most vehicle engines in use today.

Above a preselected speed as controlled by the counter Weight 14 and an adjustable spring 25, shown in FIG. 2, cup 12 moves counter-clockwise, as viewed in FIG. 2, to move stem 16 and valve 16B to the left, as viewed in FIG. 2, to connect suction tube 17A to tube 18A which may be connected to the suction operated spark advance, not shown. Adjustment screw 20A limits the motion of cup 12 and valve 16B at high fan or engine speeds.

In FIG. 3 valve 16A has a recessed left end to receive one end of a spring 26. The spring 26 could replace or supplement spring 25 to adjust the speed range of sensitivity. The other end of spring 26 rests against adjustment screw 27.

Other forms of valves or a switch may be used and such valves or switches may control spark advance in many ways, as shown in U.S. Patent 3,272,191 or control idle fuel shut offs on decelerations at closed throttle above a predetermined speed, as shown in many U.S. patents such as 3,251,352; 3,254,638; 3,256,870 and 3,297,103, with different speed sensors or other uses within the scope of this invention.

We have illustrated our inventions in these various forms; however, many other variations may be possible within the scope of this invention.

We claim as our invention:

1. A speed sensor for an internal combustion engine including an engine driven cooling fan, a pivotably moveable reaction device located close to said fan with an axis of limited rotation substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of said fan, device means actuated by the pivotal motion of said reaction device at fan speeds above a predetermined limit, said device means controlling the flow of uid in one path above said selected fan speed and blocking said path below said selected fan speed, said reaction device comprising a lever pivotally mounted for oscillation about said axis parallel to the axis of rotation of the fan, an impinging element carried by the lever on one side of said parallel axis for impinging on the stream of air produced by the fan, and a counterweight carried by the lever on the other side of said parallel axis.

2. A device as dened in claim 1, in which there is an adjustable spring means attached to said reaction device to change the speed of sensitivity of the motion of said reaction device relative to said fan speeds by changing the adjustment of said spring to change the resistance to pivotal motion of said reaction device.

3. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said impinging element comprises a vane having a concave surface facing the said stream of air.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,529,242 11/1950 Brown. 2,815,739 12/1957 Hall.

MEYER PERLIN, Primary Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. 123--103 

